About

To contact me regarding sales, commissions, etc:

elliecraze.art@gmail.com

Bio -

Ellie Craze is native to the Arizona desert. After attending Arizona State University to study graphic design and drawing, she completed her BFA in May of 2016. Over the past few years, she has worked for music venues and fashion publications as an in-house graphic designer. Craze has displayed in various galleries in downtown Phoenix and recently in Fukuoka, Japan. She has also displayed in many unconventional spaces, including Mesa Urban Garden, 5th Street Dance Studio, and dozens of punk rock house shows. In 2015, Craze was awarded a Special Talent Art scholarship and a free on-campus studio to use until graduation. In 2017, she was apart of an artist residency at Studio Kura in Japan, where she had her first international solo show.

Statement -

Everything in sight can be used to create something new; my life is built on this foundation. As a young girl, I never let myself become bored. Even when I was lacking traditional supplies and tools, I could still entertain myself with the discovery of unique materials found around my parent’s house. I enjoyed coloring and painting, constructing homes for my action figures, and crafting elaborate outfits for myself. After the age of 10, I became actively aware of my imagination. When school lost my interest, as it often did, I could easily slip into a preferred reality to pass the time. Common subjects in my reveries are made-up characters, dreamscapes, and re-imaginations of events. Understanding how to access my internal visual space is essential to my art.

My favorite type of medium is any fluid, chaotic substance that I can learn to control. India ink, watercolor, and gouache are often found in my work. Using permanent materials implies a constant risk, which has helped me hone my precision, but also to embrace the imperfection of human touch.

While much of my work is personal, I still strive to make it understandable to the viewer. Recently, I’ve been creating mystical spaces and landscapes. These fictional locations can serve as a reflection of my internal visual space, an environment I’m longing for, or an alternate reality seen in a dream. Other pieces depict objects or words laden with a disposition relevant to my life. I aim to make these moods visible and envelope the viewer in worlds they have not yet visited.